“From young to old, through thick and thin, forever by your side, I will be”

~An Inscription~

Outside the labor ward.

Standing in the midst of a group of distant relatives, and looking somewhat out of place in his suit and waistcoat, was Li Yanmo.

He couldn’t have been more than six years old. A handsome little chap he was, with the glow of the morning sun scattered on his cheeks, rendering even the finest hairs on his face visible. His skin was so pale and smooth that it was as if his exquisite features had been chiseled from marble. Standing with a bouquet of crystal roses and looking downward, he appeared to be waiting for something–or someone.

He finally looked up, staring at the entrance of the labor ward. As a grimace formed on his face, his hold on the flowers became tighter and tighter.

That was because….

At this very moment…

He was waiting for the arrival of his future wife!

The child betrothal was decided for him by his mom when he was five.

There was a sudden boom.

The doors of the ward were suddenly thrown open, and he was compelled by some mysterious force to be the first one to rush in.

The nurse was holding a little baby, whose eyes remained closed. “It’s a beautiful girl,” she said.

Just as the group of distant relatives was busy crowding around the baby, Li Yanmo had already discreetly made his way to her side, standing on tiptoes. He looked downward at her, placed the custom-made crystal roses beside her tiny head, then scanned her “beautiful face” with his peripheral vision.

Wrinkled skin, a skinny little torso, and a pouty little mouth… Pfft, she was far from being pretty.

Almost at the same time, this little one actually opened her eyes, her bright and Bambi-like doe eyes reflecting his small build. A guileless smile then formed on her face as she waved her tiny fists at him in greeting.

Li Yanmo pursed his lips. “Still ugly,” he thought. It did nothing to change the impression he had of her.

“C’mere, handsome boy. Your future wife seems to like you a lot. Give her a kiss,” said the nurse, who couldn’t resist teasing him, since she was long aware of their betrothal.

Li Yanmo blushed at the mention of the betrothal between him and the ugly little baby. Looking at the tiny baby who was currently rolling her eyes, he suddenly thought of something. He got close to her ear, murmuring,

“You’re really ugly.”

No one other than the two of them could hear him, speaking in hushed tones.

In a wink of an eye, Ning Tiantian was now three years old. “Ning Tiantian” was a name picked out for her by Li Yanmo, for the simple reason that she was biting on a biscuit when they were picking names for her. It didn’t have any particular significance.

“Ning Bingbing” would sound too awful, so Ning Tiantian it was.

In revenge, Ning Tiantian nicknamed him “Inky”. She was two years old when she watched Li Yanmo practice Chinese calligraphy. Knowing that ink was his namesake, she started calling him Inky.

By the time Ning Tiantian turned three, Li Yanmo was already eight and in elementary school. Unfortunately, she was too little to go to school with him.

As such, Ning Tiantian could only stay in the courtyard, seated in her little toy car, while she waited for her husband to come home from school.

Just like any other day, Ning Tiantian was sucking on her milk bottle while exploring the nooks and crannies of the courtyard in her little toy sedan, until she caught sight of a familiar silhouette. Her eyes glinted in excitement as she rushed out in her little toy car.

“Inky, you’re finally home!”

“I want a hug, Inky!”

As soon as Li Yanmo stepped into the courtyard, his ears were filled with the sound of Ning Tiantian’s voice. Their two villas were side by side. At this moment, Ning Tiantian was coming at him in her toy car, her arm stretched out toward him.

“Huggy, huggy!” Tiantian blinked at his expressionless face.

Ignoring her, Li Yanmo simply adjusted his backpack and bypassed her.

“Hubby!” Getting no response from him after calling several times in a row, Ning Tiantian finally pulled out her trump card.

“Shut up.”

Li Yanmo’s countenance darkened at the mention of the word “hubby”.

Young and ignorant at the tender age of six, he was unknowingly hoodwinked into waiting for the arrival of his future wife. Now eight years old, he was cognizant of the fact that a married couple had to spend an entire lifetime together. That was something he did not want with this snotty, diaper-wearing little munchkin who still drank from milk bottles.

“I’m going to scream unless you hug me!” Ning Tiantian was aware that Inky did not like being referred to as her husband, but that’s what she’d do if he refused to hug her. “Hubby… hubby… hubby…”

“I’m going to bear you children!” her voice rang out once again.